This invention relates in general to the association of a discussion with a document, and more particularly to inserting a discussion into a document by associating the discussion with an identifier for the document.
A document is often the result of the efforts of many people. For example, in addition to the author, multiple reviewers may provide comments and suggestions. Some comments may be directed to the document as a whole, whereas other comments may be directed to particular portions of the document. Ultimately, the comments must be compiled, reviewed and incorporated into the document.
Consider the situation where an author sends a draft of a document to five people to review. The draft may be distributed by sending each reviewer a paper copy of the document or an electronic copy of the document. Generally, each reviewer provides comments by editing the document or by adding comments to the document. The reviewers may comment upon the document by adding handwritten comments to a paper copy of the document or by annotating an electronic copy of the document using an annotation feature of a word processing program. Once the document is reviewed, each reviewer generally returns his or her copy of the document to the author. The author could receive a different set of comments from each reviewer. Typically, the comments made by each reviewer are made without the benefit of the other reviewers comments. The author is then left to sort through the comments to determine which comments are duplicative and to resolve any conflicting comments.
To try to limit duplicate and conflicting comments, the author may decide to route only a single copy of the document. The document may be sent sequentially to each reviewer. Although this solution allows the last reviewer to see the comments of the other reviewers, the other reviewers do not receive the same benefit. Furthermore, only one of the reviewers can review the document at a time. If the document is routed to a reviewer who is unavailable for a week, then no one may review the document for at least a week, even if another reviewer is available to review the document. Therefore, there is a need for a method to comment upon a document that accommodates multiple reviewers. Preferably, the method should allow multiple reviewers to review the document simultaneously and to see the comments of the other reviewers.
In addition to commenting upon a draft of a document, a reviewer may want to attach another document that is relevant to the document. If the other document is a paper document, then the reviewer can send the paper document to the author. The paper document may include the reviewer""s handwritten notes. Alternatively, the other document may be an electronic document accessible via a web, such as an HTML (HyperText Markup Language) document accessible via an intranet. The reviewer could print the electronic document, add the reviewer""s comments to the printed copy, and then route the printed copy to the author. However, it would be easier if the reviewer could insert comments into the other document while viewing the document.
It would be particularly useful if comments could be inserted into an HTML document because HTML is commonly used to create documents distributed over a network, such as the Internet. An advantage of HTML is that it is platform independent, so an HTML document may be displayed on a number of different display devices using a number of different browsers. Documents accessible via the Internet are typically read-only. Therefore, a reader cannot edit an Internet document, such as an HTML document, to insert comments into the document. Thus, there is also a need in the art for a method for inserting comments into a read-only document.
The present invention meets the needs described above by providing a method for associating a discussion with a document by associating the discussion with a document identifier, such as the address for the document. A discussion includes comments, annotations, and notes and is typically used to provide commentary on the document. Advantageously, a discussion may be associated with any document that the user can access, regardless of whether the user created the document or can modify the document.
General discussions, in-line discussions, and replies may be associated with a document. A general discussion is a discussion that is directed to the document as a whole. An in-line discussion is a discussion that is directed to a particular portion of the document, such as a particular paragraph. A reply responds to a general discussion, an in-line discussion, or another reply. A general discussion includes general discussion text, an in-line discussion includes in-line discussion text, and a reply includes reply text. As used herein, the terms xe2x80x9cdiscussion textxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9creply textxe2x80x9d include text, as well as graphics, data, hypertext links, and other types of information.
In one aspect of the invention, a discussion is associated with a document through a document identifier for the document such as the document address. The discussion is received from the user while the user is viewing the document. Once the discussion is received, the discussion is associated with the document through the document identifier. The discussion is associated with the document through the document identifier by creating a database entry for the discussion that includes the document identifier. The discussion is stored independently of the document. In this manner, the discussion can be retrieved whenever the document is accessed. When a request to access the document is detected, the document is displayed, the discussion is obtained, and the discussion is displayed along with the document. The discussion may be either a general discussion or an in-line discussion. An in-line discussion typically includes in-line discussion text and an in-line signature. If the discussion is an in-line discussion, then the in-line discussion is displayed at a location in the document that corresponds to the in-line signature. To determine the location in the document that corresponds to the in-line signature, a possible discussion location is heuristically determined and a signature is calculated for the possible discussion location. A determination is made as to whether the signature matches the in-line signature. If the signature matches the in-line signature, then the in-line discussion text is displayed at the possible discussion location.
In another aspect of the invention an in-line discussion can be inserted at a possible discussion location for an in-line discussion. The possible discussion location is identified by displaying a discussion icon at the possible discussion location. Typically, a location for the in-line discussion is determined by detecting a tag that defines the end of a paragraph. A signature is calculated for the location and a discussion icon is displayed at the location. The signature is generally calculated by calculating the Cyclic Redundancy Check of a predetermined number of characters that precede the tag defining the. end of the paragraph.
If the discussion icon is selected by the user, then in-line discussion text for the in-line discussion is received from the user and the in-line discussion is created at the location corresponding to the discussion icon. Creating the in-line discussion typically includes displaying the in-line discussion text and an action icon. The in-line discussion is associated with the document through the document address. Generally, the in-line discussion is associated with the document by creating a database entry based upon the in-line discussion text, the signature, and the document address.
A reply can be inserted in the document to respond to a general discussion, an in-line discussion or an existing reply. To reply, the user selects a parent discussion by selecting the action icon associated with a general discussion, an in-line discussion or a reply and enters reply text. The reply is created following the parent discussion. The reply is associated with the parent discussion through an identifier for the parent discussion. Generally, the reply is associated with the parent discussion by creating a database entry based upon the reply text and the parent discussion identifier.
These and other aspects, features and advantages of the present invention may be more clearly understood and appreciated from a review of the following detailed description of the disclosed embodiments and by reference to the appended drawings and claims.